Topic: How To Invest

Pat: I would like your opinion on Tekmira Pharmaceuticals. I am looking at purchasing some shares, but they have just had quite a run. Your feedback on this would be greatly appreciated—I have been member of your Inner Circle for some time and look forward to your opinion on this one, because I know it is highly speculative. Thanks.

Article Excerpt

Tekmira Pharmaceuticals, $8.26, symbol TKM on Toronto (Shares outstanding: 18.3 million; Market cap: $157.1 million; www.tekmirapharm.com), is a biopharmaceutical company that focuses on RNAi therapeutics. RNAi therapeutics have the potential to treat a broad number of human diseases by “silencing” disease-causing genes. The discoverers of RNAi, a gene-silencing mechanism that all cells use, were awarded the 2006 Nobel Prize in the Physiology-or-Medicine category. To be effective, RNAi treatments need special delivery systems. Tekmira believes its lipid nanoparticle (LNP) technology is the best method. Some drugs, like RNAi, are not water-soluble, which makes them difficult to deliver into the body. However, lipid nanoparticles can be used to encapsulate the RNAi and help the body absorb it. For the three months ended September 30, 2013, Tekmira reported revenue of $3.1 million, up from $2.1 million a year earlier. Almost all of the company’s revenue came from its development of TKM-Ebola, an Ebola virus treatment, under a contract with the U.S. Department of Defense. For many years,…